Climate Change

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:

On April 17, 2025, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists held a discussion exploring the risks of climate change and how to understand what planetary shifts are inevitable – and which are solvable – in this current era of scientific skepticism.

Each year, new data strengthens our understanding of the planet's rising temperatures and growing environmental instability. With the increase in uncontrollable wildfires, stronger storms, and rising ocean levels, the question remains of whether we are too late to reverse – or significantly slow – our changing climate.

There have been a few bright spots towards reaching targets set in the Paris Agreement, such as increases in sustainable energy generation and climate finance. Still, these advances have not yet slowed consistent record-breaking heat and a continued year-over-year rise of atmospheric carbon– leaving us to question whether there is a ‘tipping point’ – a threshold beyond which climate change is irreversible.

Speakers include:

Moderator: Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Inez Fung, Professor Emerita of Atmospheric Science in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science and the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkeley. She is also a member of the Bulletin's Science and Security Board.

Robert Kopp, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at Rutgers University.

Femke Nijsse, Senior Lecturer in Innovation, Energy and Climate at the University of Exeter.

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As climate change pushes montane species upslope in a bid to escape warming temperatures, species, including birds, occupying the highest altitudes could be left with nowhere to go, making them the most prone to extinction.

Source

When it comes to reforestation, planting a diversity of tree species could have a plethora of positive effects on forest health and resilience, climate mitigation and biodiversity. That’s based on research from the world’s largest tree-planting experiment, in China, and the world’s longest-running tropical forest planting experiment, in Panama.

Florian Schnabel, lecturer and chair of silviculture at Freiburg University in Germany, and his team recently published two papers illustrating how planting diverse forests can buffer them against climate extremes and enhance carbon storage.

“The results of our research in Panama and in China really call for preserving and also planting diverse forests as a strategy under climate change,” he says.

Researchers with the BEF-China project planted multiple forests, ranging from just one tree species up to 24, then measured microclimate temperatures over six years.

They found that the more diverse the forest, the greater the “temperature buffering” effect during hot and cold peaks. The most diverse plantings, those with 24 species, reduced temperatures during peak midday summer heat by 4.4° Celsius (7.92° Fahrenheit) when compared to the project’s monoculture. That finding could have important consequences for biodiversity and forest functions, such as soil respiration, says Schnabel. “What was quite striking to me was how strong this [temperature buffering] effect actually was.”

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The climate movement has been so focused on reducing emissions for so long, it’s lost all sight of the fact that there are other ways to bring carbon dioxide concentrations under control. In a world where 70% of emissions and the vast bulk of emissions growth come from developing countries, focusing on emissions from people in rich countries never made any sense as a climate strategy anyway.

Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal was always something we were going to have to do. In the new Trump era of not even pretending to try to curb emissions, the urgency to act is all the greater.

And, right now, seaweed might be our best hope.

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This content is brought to you in part by Big Seaweed™: the deliciously salty and climate-friendly superfood for all your iodine needs!

A sandstorm in central and southern Iraq sent more than 1,800 people to hospitals with respiratory problems on Monday, health officials said.

Iraq, which endures blistering summer heat and regular sandstorms, is one of the five countries most impacted by some effects of climate change, says the United Nations.

The environment ministry has warned the country can expect to experience a rising number of "dust days" in coming decades.

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Behind these declines lies a constellation of human-driven threats, with habitat destruction leading the charge. Each year, approximately 10 million hectares of forest — an area nearly the size of Kentucky — disappear to make way for agriculture, urban development, and resource extraction. Particularly devastating is the ongoing destruction of tropical rainforests, Earth’s most biologically diverse terrestrial ecosystems. The Amazon Basin alone has lost roughly 17% of its forest cover in the past 50 years, with deforestation rates accelerating dramatically in recent years despite increased awareness of the region’s critical importance to global climate regulation.

The connection between rainforest destruction and global agricultural systems reveals a particularly troubling cycle of environmental degradation. Vast tracts of pristine forest, especially in South America, are being systematically cleared to grow soybeans — not primarily for direct human consumption, but to feed livestock in industrial animal agriculture operations worldwide. This represents a staggeringly inefficient use of land: producing one pound of beef requires approximately seven pounds of grain, making meat production a principal driver of habitat loss. The irony is profound — forests that once supported immense biodiversity are destroyed to grow monoculture crops that feed animals raised in factory farms, all while greenhouse gas emissions from both deforestation and livestock production accelerate climate change.

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Content Warning: incorrect and potentially offensive use of the verb "hack" and noun "hacker"

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